Heart to Heart
by Avatar Wolfheart
Summary: "I'm beginning to think that I'm destined to never have a relationship with anyone.""Maybe it is. You can take risks and do amazing things to help people because there's no one who relies on you to come back to them alive. It allows you to be a hero and right now we're in desperate need of heroes.""If your trying to make me feel better, your doing a poor job of it."
1. Hero and Criminal

**Arc One: Atlas**

 ** _Chapter One: Hero and Criminal_**

* * *

There was no doubt that Atlas was the largest kingdom in Remnant and it was even rumored to be capable of holding the populations of all four kingdoms in a crisis. Tall glass skyscrapers reached for the sky like pillars the tallest being the CCT and at night the city lights twinkled like stars. The streets were clean and a train wound through the city on its tracks two stories above street level. The Atlesian Knight-130's were stationed on the tall walls surrounding the city to repel any attack by Grimm alongside the military and Hunters while the Atlas Police Department protected the civilians from human criminals. To most it was beautiful and awe inspiring at the height of its technological advancement.

Natsuki hated it. She hated it for everything that wasn't said when people spoke of it. The largest kingdom while capable of holding the populations of all the kingdoms would only take in the human part during a crisis, leaving the faunus - who made up 41% of the population - to fend for themselves. The skyscrapers were impressive true, but their lights polluted the sky and hid the real stars. The streets were clean, but the alleys were a mess, home to the unemployed and criminal. Beneath the streets, the abandoned metro was teeming with faunus to poor to afford homes or that had been evicted from them in order to make way for more skyscrapers. The chances of a police working to solve a crime against a faunus were less than ten percent while a crime claimed to be caused by a faunus resulted in their arrest ninety-eight percent of the time. And more importantly, Atlas was governed by its military with influence by the Schnee Dust Company and many more companies who were known for their poor treatment of faunus' laborers. Any faunus in and outside of Atlas would agree that the kingdom held the most racism and prejudice than the other three kingdoms combined.

Mood already soured by her poor opinion of Atlas, the sweltering heat caused by the summer sun and the trench coat she wore only increased her irritation. Natsuki ignored the sweat running down her back as she adjusted the sleeves of the green coat. The coat was far too big on her, falling to her heels and hanging an inch past her fingertips. While she disliked having to wear it, the coat was necessary for several reasons, including the concealment of her weapons as it was illegal for anyone who wasn't a Hunter to Academy student - of which she was neither - to carry a weapon in the city without a permit. With a frustrated sigh, she gave up on trying to roll the sleeves up as they dropped right back down to cover her hands.

Adjusting her dark blue fedora to shade her eyes, she panned her gaze over the crowd gathered in one of the city's park. There were more faunus intermingled with the crowd than she had expected and more potential White Fang gathered then she would have liked. Along with the faunus, there were quite a few news crews hanging around all focused on a stage that was put in place for today's event. The reason became apparent as a young woman took to the stage. A ripple passed through the news crews as they rushed to adjust their cameras and microphones. The woman was tall - perhaps even taller than Natsuki was - and her white hair was pulled into a neat bun, tinted blue by her shirt. She moved with purpose, no motion wasted and spine perfectly straight as she moved to stand in front of five new Atlesian Knight-200's. Natsuki wasn't sure if her regal bearing came from her military training or Schnee heritage. When the woman stood center stage with her hands behind her back, she decided upon the military. Her voice was beautiful, but there was no warmth in it as she began her speech.

A crackle of static sounded in Natsuki's ear briefly. " _This is Hacker to Lightning Tamer. I am in position. I repeat I am in position. Over."_

" _This is Untouchable to everyone. what's the point of these codenames again? People keep staring at me."_

" _I'm more interested in why we're doing this mission in the first place."_

" _Codenames, Ninja!"_ Hacker chided.

" _Oh, who cares about the stupid codenames. I just want to know why we're doing this. I mean she's a Schnee and we all know that the SDC is the worst at using faunus as cheap labor."_

" _Don't judge a person by their family, Yasmin,"_ Xander answered, dropping the use of codenames. " _She may be a Schnee, but she left the company, passing on the title of heiress to her sister, before joining the military in rebellion of her father's controlling nature."_

" _Because nothing screams rebellion against controlling parents better than joining a controlling military,"_ Yasmin retorted.

"Focus, guys," Natsuki ordered lowly, offering an awkward smile to a woman who turned to look at her in surprise.

They fell silent, allowing Natsuki to focus more on what was going on around her. A slight disturbance to her left caught her attention and she watched as a boy wearing a hoodie slowly began to withdraw a black handgun from within his pocket. As focused as people were on the speech, no one besides her noticed as several more faunus around the park began to do the same.

"Get ready," She ordered lowly.

" _We're always-"_

She felt the EMP before her earpiece cut out abruptly. Electricity from her semblance sparked by her ear as it absorbed a bit of the electrical pulse. There was a more noticeable disturbance in the news crews as their equipment, but no one realized something was wrong until the new AK-200's stances relaxed from standby mode to offline. Natsuki was moving as soon as felt her semblance spark, putting on a black half mask with a yellow stripe down the nose piece. A purposeful spark from her semblance activated the gears in her boots and the stripes of yellow that ran up the backsides began to glow yellow.

When the first gunshot echoed through the park, Natsuki was already tackling Winter Schnee off the stage and leaving the bullet aimed for her head to ricochet off one of the inactive AK-200. People screamed as soon as they realized what was happening and began to make a run for it. Natsuki was a bit too distracted to worry about the crowd, though. She should have known that tackling a trained soldier wouldn't be a good idea.

As Natsuki started to rise, Winter's elbow slammed down between her shoulder blades before locking her legs with Natsuki's to roll them so she was on top. Natsuki quickly blocked a punch from the woman

"Woah, there, Schnee. I'm not your enemy."

Instead of responding, Winter attacked again. As quick as Winter's reaction time had been to Natsuki's tackle, Natsuki's was just as quick and she quickly reversed their positions, but this time managed to pin WInter's wrists.

"I'm not your enemy," She repeated.

"You'll have to excuse me for not trusting the word of a masked stranger who attacked me."

"If I hadn't tackled you, you'd be dead. So you're welcome. Now I'm going to let you up and go help my friends so I'd really appreciate it if you wouldn't attack me."

Without waiting for a response Natsuki stood and swept back her coat to grasp the hilt of her weapon. She dropped back down without drawing her weapon as a bullet glanced off the stage frame. "Son of a bitch. They brought a freaking sniper with them."

She sighed as a thin blade poked her back, feeling the subtle shift of her Aura in response to the threat. "For the last time, I am not your enemy, Schnee. Now put your sword away before you poke someone's eye out."

"I don't take orders from half-dressed degenerates," Winter replied, referring to the fact that Natsuki was shirtless underneath the trench coat with only a blue sports binder for modesty. "Tell me who you are now."

"And I don't take orders from trigger happy military personnel," Natsuki finally snapped in irritation and turned to slap the blade away with her bare hand, Aura protecting her from injury.

She turned her back on the female soldier, sweeping the coat back to unclip one of her scimitars from the metal clamps hanging from her belt. A guard covered the majority of the blade, leaving the last two inches or so uncovered, and a clip of yellow dust bullets glowed in the guard. With the careful application of her semblance, she changed the scimitar into its rifle mode, covered section of the bladed rotating around the rifle barrelled that ran up the blade while the hilt broke apart and tilted into the rifle grip while a trigger popped out of hiding in the guard. She peered around the edge of the stage before recoiling with a curse as another bullet hit the stage near her face. The sniper was getting more accurate. Of course as accurate as the sniper was getting he'd never be as accurate as . . .

"Nickolas!" She shouted. "There's a sniper on the tenth, no the ninth floor of that building that's under construction."

"I'm a little busy!" He shouted back and Natsuki sighed quietly.

She could hear her friends fighting the White Fang out there and she didn't like that all she could do was cower behind a stage. She turned her attention back to Winter and sighed as she saw that she had pulled out a scroll.

"That won't work. They used an EMP, it's why your new shiny tin soldiers are just standing around looking pretty."

"And how do you know about this EMP?" Winter asked suspiciously.

"Because I can feel it," Natsuki answered., a single spark of electricity crackling off her cheek in brief demonstration of her semblance.

Bracing the front heavy rifle with her left hand, she peeked around the stage for the second time. She forced herself not to flinch at the next of the sniper's shots, trusting in her Aura and semblance to protect her as well as the hope that the sniper still hadn't adjusted his angle properly. The bullet struck her Aura first, slowing it slightly but not stopping it. Her semblance was next, a sheen of electricity sparking into life an inch away from her face. Manipulating the electricity to divert the fast moving piece of metal to the side was difficult and it still cut a line across her cheek. Ignoring the sting of the minor injury, she fired her rifle.

The tiger faunus fighting Nickolas spasmed as he fell, two pronged stun bullets sticking out of his neck, one significantly shorter than the other. Natsuki raised an eyebrow at her fighting partner as he spun the fired revolver by its trigger guard to grasp the barrel as the gun grip unfolded into its hatchet form. Xander smirked and saluted her with the changed weapon, blocking an attack from another White Fang faunus with its twin. Nickolas transformed his orange trident into a shotgun and spun in the direction of the sniper. He didn't even try to aim before pulling the trigger, not that it mattered with his semblance.

No more shots from the sniper followed Nickolas' shot and Natsuki quickly swept her gaze over the nearby rooftops wary of any more surprises.

"Nice shot as always, Nick. That sniper won't be shooting at anybody else anytime soon," Xander praised and turned towards the fourth member of their team. "Hey, Yasmin, don't you think it's time you stopped strangling that snake faunus and start finding that EMP."

"Shut it, Irving!" Yasmin shouted back.

"Don't start," Natsuki ordered, leaving Winter behind as she stepped into the open with her weapon back in scimitar form. "And Yasmin, I would greatly appreciate that EMP being found."

Yasmin released her opponent from the stranglehold of her kusarigama's golden chain. "Of course."

"Good, now let's finish this shall we?" She directed the question towards the remaining White Fang members.

* * *

"Has that sniper been questioned yet."

"Not yet, sir," Winter replied. "Our men are still trying to unthaw him.

General James Ironwood sighed at the information as he stared through the one-sided window at one of the many faunus that had been brought in. She wore a sleeveless black shirt trimmed with purple, a purple sash belt, a hip cape the faded from white to purple, and black pants tucked into her black boots. The black gloves adorning her hands bore her purple emblem, four hiltless kunai knives stacked on top of one another. The brown fur of her tail was the same color as her hair except for its black tip. Her tail twitched slightly and when he blinked he couldn't locate her again almost as if she had become invisible. "What's this one's name?"

Winter Schnee cleared her throat as she answered from behind him. "She gave her name as Yasmin Fiala. The only information we could find on her were her adoption records and the police report for a missing person. She's a stoat faunus with a semblance to direct attention away from her."

"A missing person's report?"

"She ran away from the family that adopted her. However, for some reason, the report was never looked into."

Ironwood moved to the next window. "And this one?"

The boy had kicked his feet up on the interrogation table, hands folded behind his head. His head turned towards them as if he knew they were there, green eyes sparkling in amusement. Like Yasmin, he wore black boots, but that was the only black he wore. He looked like a normal kid in a white t-shirt emblazoned with his green emblem of two revolvers framing a lightning bolt, blue jeans, and a green jacket. If Winter didn't know better she would have thought him related to the girl that had tackled her based on their same black hair - though his was much longer.

"His name's Xander Irving. His mother was killed in a White Fang raid on an SDC office building when he was young and his brother, Simon, went missing not long after. His semblance is empathy and he claims to be one of the leaders of an organization known as the Black Fang. But the existence of the Black Fang is just a rumor, I don't think-"

"I don't pay you to think, Miss Schnee," He interrupted rudely before moving onto the next window.

Shifting slightly at the harsh comment, Winter began telling him about the second boy on the other side of the glass before he could ask. The boy's light brown hair was tousled and he seemed to have fallen asleep with his head resting on his crossed arms on the table. He was dressed in a pair of swim trunks with orange stripes on the outside of his thighs, a lighter orange trident shaped emblem sticking out of white and light blue ice stood out. Orange stripes also ran up the sleeves of his black long sleeve wetsuit top. He kicked off his black and orange tennis shoes at some point as they lay in the corner of the room.

"Nickolas Tachibana, arrested several times on charges of disturbing the peace and for sexual assault, although it seems the reported assaults were just misunderstandings. He's an otter faunus with a semblance of accuracy. He reported that someone stole his work on the linking of artificial intelligence and semblances two years ago, but it seems the report was also overlooked."

Winter hesitated for a moment as they moved onto the final window. "Not much is known about Natsuki Sora. Her only information is in the database for listing Alpha faunus, there was no information on what type of faunus she is. It did, however, list that she's from an all faunus island outside of Vale. And based on my experience in the recent events, her semblance appears to be electricity based. She claims to be the second leader of the Black Fang."

Natsuki was the least relaxed of the four, legs crossed and the fingers of her right hand drumming a beat on the table as her left twisted the bright blue scarf she had donned shortly after the battle with the White Fang. Her boots had been taken since their utilization of lightning dust fell under the category of weapon. Without the mask covering her face, there was something about the girl that seemed familiar to Winter.

"So all four have their semblances unlocked." The General mused thoughtfully and then turned and walked away. "Ready a conference room, I would like to speak with all four of them in private."

"Yes, sir," She saluted him smartly.

"And see to it that Miss Sora gets her boots back without the dust inserts. There's no point in her walking around barefoot."

* * *

Natsuki looked at the general stoically after he tossed their four black masks onto the conference table. Once out of the small interrogation room and back with her friends, she had been able to relax fully and she was unintimidated by him. Xander was the first to reclaim his mask, the green stripe separating it from the others. He slid Natsuki's mask to her as Nickolas flipped the remaining solid black masks over to figure out which one was his by the initials painted on the inside.

"My Special Op's commander claims that you call yourselves the Black Fang."

" _We_ call ourselves no such thing," Natsuki replied, finally picking up her mask. "The organization that we are a part of on the other hand . . ."

"I've heard the rumors about the Black Fang. They say you're a group of faunus that supposedly fights against the White Fang and yet there's never been any substantial evidence to support those rumors. Until now that is."

"General may I ask what law we have broken?" Natsuki asked politely, meeting the man's gaze evenly.

"You are aware that vigilantism is illegal, are you not, Miss Sora?"

"Fully aware, just as I am aware that it's not illegal for an individual to stop a crime from being committed. Which seeing as we didn't kill or maim anyone I don't see what crime we've committed."

"How about carrying weapons without permits?"

"We had permits," Xander informed him.

"Permits from Vacuo that are two months overdue for renewal."

"We've been too busy to get them renewed."

"Too busy doing what."

 _He's trying to trip us up and catch us in a lie. Clever, but not clever enough._ Natsuki leaned back in her chair. "Are you aware how difficult it is for a faunus to get a decent job in this city especially if they haven't had proper schooling?"

She could see that the General didn't have any good response to that, so she leaned forward.

"General, how long can you hold us for not having weapon permits with no evidence of any other crimes being committed."

When Ironwood didn't respond right away, Nickolas did. "They can hold us for a total of twenty-four hours, and as we've already been here for five hours, that leaves him ninety more to find evidence of some other crime to hold us any longer. And as Xander is human, they won't be able to get away with holding us longer due to the possibility of us being members of the White Fang."

"Thank you, Nickolas. So General, are you going to make things easy on all of us and let us go, or are you going to hold us for the full twenty-four hours while you search for nonexistent evidence."

* * *

"I can't believe that bastard actually had us detained for the full twenty-four hours," Xander complained as they left the police department.

"Hey, at least we were able to get some weapon permits out of it without Yasmin having to forge them," Nickolas commented as he looked over the blue card they each had been given. "Hey, can we get some actually decent food before we head back to the hotel?"

"I agree, their food was horrible."

"What's wrong, Natsuki?"

Natsuki glanced at her friends at Xander's concerned question. Anyone else would be unsettled by Xander's ability to sense their emotions, but not Natsuki. If it weren't for Xander's empathy, they would have never become friends and created the Black Fang together. He kept her sane when she was at her lowest.

"It's nothing, I'm just thinking."

"About?" He pressed gently, gesturing at Yasmin and Nickolas to go ahead of them.

"What if it's time that the Black Fang steps out of the shadow?"

He nodded thoughtfully. "I think I know where you're coming from, but I disagree. We chose the name of Black Fang not as an opposite of the White Fang, but as a promise to work in the shadows and fight fang and claw to stop the terror of the White Fang. The only reason the White Fang hasn't sent anyone to kill all of us yet is because they don't know who we are."

"I know you're right," She replied with a quiet sigh and then stopped walking. "You guys should go eat. I'll meet you back at the hotel later."

"Before the curfew, please," He requested before catching up to Nickolas and Yasmin.

Natsuki wandered the city for an hour before returning to the park where they had fought the White Fang. The thin metal strips embedded in the soles of her boots chimed softly against the pavement as she walked. The stage was gone, taken down during their detainment and the park was cleaned. Bending down to pick up a crumpled metal bullet that had been left behind, she wondered over how quickly they had managed to clean up the mess. As she was straightening a gleam of ice blue caught her attention. Picking it up carefully, she raised it up to the light. The blue topaz earring sent streams of sunlight reflecting off its faceted surface. It was no doubt expensive and probably belong to Winter. Natsuki marveled over the intricate detail put into the apple-shaped gem and the familiarity of its design.

She paused and slowly reached into the pouch hanging from her belt, withdrawing the necklace within. Even with her gloves on, she was careful not to touch the ring hanging from the chain as she compared the topaz pendant hanging from the chain as well to the earring. The apple pendant had the same intricate detail as the earring.

" _Here, Natsuki. I want you to have this necklace it was once a part of a one of a kind jewelry set I got from_ my _mother."_

" _It's pretty."_

" _It is and it's very expensive. This here is a real topaz so be careful that no one steals it."_

Looking between the two pieces of jewelry for a moment, she slowly returned the necklace to the pouch. Her mother had to have been mistaken about the set being one of a kind. She stared at the earring again. She was almost positive it was Winter's, but why would the Schnee have a chain and cuff earring made for a faunus. She could tell by the latch on the cuff piece that allowed for it to be switched for a different cuff for a faunus' nonhuman ear so they could wear it on whichever set of ears they wanted. Closing her hand over the earring, Natsuki shook her head. It wasn't really any of her business.

She looked up at the clock in the center of the square. They had been released at 2:00 and it was already 3:13. That gave her less than five hours to track down Winter and return the earrings before curfew. She still had some things to do, though, things she should have done yesterday. Returning the earring could wait a few hours.

* * *

Natsuki cursed quietly when no one answered her knock. It had taken her longer than she would have liked to finish what should have been done yesterday and taken longer than she thought it would to track down Winter's address. She lived on the opposite side of the city and now Natsuki barely had enough time to return to the hotel before curfew. Groaning, she dropped her forehead against the door, the movement added to the flattening of her wolf ears knocking off her fedora. A horrified gasp from behind her made her jump and she blinked in confusion at the little old lady that quickly began trying to hurriedly unlock her door while shooting distrustful glances at her.

Sighing, she retrieved her hat from the ground and walking towards the elevator. The woman pressed herself tightly against her door as she passed before finally succeeding in getting to her apartment and slamming the door behind her. Taking a sharp left, she avoided the elevator like it was a plague and pushed open the door leading to the stairs. She would hate coming back here tomorrow. She stopped on the landing on the floor below Winter's, staring out the window. Frowning thoughtfully, she shrugged. Why not? She'd nearly broken all of Atlas' laws already, what was another? Pushing the window open, she carefully slid out onto the fire escape only to wince as the metal in her boots rang loudly on the metal of the fire escape. Pulling them off and holding them tightly with one hand, she measured the distance between this fire escape and next. It would be a long painful fall if she missed, but giving up wasn't in her nature.

She backed up as far as she could on the landing before taking off. The other fire escape rattled as she slammed into the fenced side, barely catching it with her free hand. The metal was slippery beneath her gloved hand and she quickly activated her semblance to cling to the railing like a magnet before she could fall. Heaving herself up, she took a deep breath to her calm her nerves before doing it again. Winter's apartment while on the same wall was at the very opposite end and by the time she finally made it, she had developed a rhythm to her jumps. Winter's window was locked, but it was no problem for Natsuki to use her semblance to flip the latch and lift the window. It had been a long time since Natsuki had done anything like this and she found it enjoyable if a bit overheating - although the overheating part was probably from the trenchcoat she still wore. It was an easy matter to slip out of it.

Winter's apartment was cold, in the temperature sense and lived in sense. The walls were white, the furniture was white, everything was white except the hardwood floors which were covered in a pale blue rug. There was a bookshelf where a tv would usually sit and a single picture of Winter's young sister sat on top of it. There were no other pictures or knick knacks to be found. Trying to get a sense of Winter's likes, she wandered over to the bookcase after handing the green coat off the back of the couch. She barely contained a snort of amusement when she saw all the books about Dust and military conduct that lined the shelves. Two books on the very bottom caught her attention and she carefully withdrew them. They both still bore their price tags. A growl rumbled in her chest when she saw the titles and author.

 _A Study on Alpha Faunus: Bizarre Mating Habits_ by Professor Tawny was the first and the second was _A Study on Alpha Faunus: Instinct over Intellect_ also by Professor Tawny. She flipped open the second book to the first page, growl growing in intensity.

" _After spending a year in the company of Alpha faunus, I have come to the ultimate conclusion that due to the possession of several different animal traits, Alpha faunus are more animalistic than normal faunus who only possess one animal trait. Not all faunus are Alpha faunus and it is unclear how an Alpha can be conceived by normal faunus parents and how two Alpha's can give birth to a normal faunus child. It is, however, clear that they are instinctual creatures that are often quick to anger, making conversing with them difficult as they can take insult over the smallest things. In this study on Alpha faunus, I will explore the concepts of how they use instinct over intelligence, their heat cycles, and their eating habits. "_

Natsuki snapped the book closed before opening the other, knowing that it would be just as bad.

" _Like certain species of animals, Alpha faunus mate for life. Before they choose a mate, they first imprint on or claim up to three people, whether they be human or faunus, whom they believe possess traits to make a stronger bloodline. The Alpha will grow increasingly more protective of these people, that they call potential mates. Where a human may give gifts of flowers or chocolate when trying to win someone over, an Alpha gives gifts of small animals that they have hunted. Once the Alpha has chosen one of these potentials to be their lifemate, they will seek to consummate the bond as soon as possible. This occurs most often during their heat cycle (see Instinct over Intellect) and the Alpha can grow dangerously possessive over their new mate. During my time among the Alpha faunus, I witnessed the mauling of one Alpha's younger brother when he got too close to the Alpha's mate. It was quite the shocking experience for-"_

Natsuki looked up from her book, ears twitching beneath her fedora at the sound of talking coming from outside the hall.

"Oh, Winter, I'm so glad you returned home before I turned in for the night. There was a faunus here earlier when I came home. She was snooping outside your room, I think she was trying to break in."

Eyes widening in surprise as she realized that the soldier had finally returned home, she quickly replaced the books on the bookshelf and rushed to grab her coat. She had only meant to drop the earring somewhere in the apartment, not get caught breaking and entering into a military officer's home by said military officer.

"Break in?"

"Oh, yes. It was simply dreadful. She left as soon as she saw me. I think she might have been White Fang. You should be careful, dear. Oh, I couldn't imagine what they would do to you if they got their hands on you."

Natsuki dropped the earring on the coffee table as she hurriedly pulled on the trench coat and scooped up her boots.

"I promise to be careful and thank you for telling me, Mrs. Worthson. Good night."

"It was no problem, dear. Good night."

She threw open the window quietly as the door was unlocked with a click. A hand caught the back of her coat shortly after she had jumped out the window, yanking her back quickly. She let out a startled yelp, bare feet slipping out from under her and head smacking against the window frame. There was no way Winter could have caught Natsuki without the use of her semblance to close the distance. It had to be someone else, please let it be someone else. She tilted her head back to stare into the icy blue glare of one irritated Winter Schnee.

"I can explain," She exclaimed guiltily.

* * *

 **What's this? A new story? Where's the update for _The Guardian_ _Spirit_? It's in the process of being written and yes I know it's late. I've been swamped with college work and was only able to post this story because I already had this chapter written and just needed to polish it up a bit. I also wanted to get this story out there before season four of RWBY comes out. If you're reading this story and haven't read the trailers yet then I suggest you go read those first. Pictures of my characters can be found on my deviantart 3wolfheart4. Also I apologise if this A/N jumps around, I'm in a bit of a hurry at the moment. Take care all and have a wonderful week.**

 **Edit: Something went wrong with my section breaks, but I fixed it.**

 **Playlist: N/A**


	2. Risky Behavior

**Arc One: Atlas**

 ** _C_** _ **hapter Two: Risky Behavior**_

* * *

Natsuki held the towel wrapped ice pack to her head with one hand while Winter attached electrodes to her other arm. The white-haired girl had accepted her breaking and entering to return a single earring better than she thought she would. The relief that appeared in the normally stoic soldier's eyes when she had seen the earring had made her smile. She had not expected the Special Operatives commander to then request to take a look at her Aura in compensation for the act of breaking and entering, though.

"You have an impressive Aura reserve," Winter said as she looked at the information on her scroll. "I'm surprised you even need that ice pack."

"Healing quickly is not something my Aura is capable of," She answered. "And as for the high reserves, that comes from having a nearly realized semblance."

"An impressive feat for someone so young," Winter remarked in a monotone as she pulled off the electrodes. "Most never fully realize their semblance and when the do they are not as young as you."

"And just how young do you think I am?"

"You look to be about my sister's age, so I would have to say seventeen years."

"I'm eighteen actually, old enough to buy booze, not that I would." Natsuki flicked her ears and wrinkled her nose in disgust. "If it tastes as bad as it smells, I'd be happy to go my entire life without drinking any.

Winter glanced briefly at the cream colored ears sticking out of Natsuki's black hair before coiling the wires she had removed. "It is probably for the best that you don't. Alcohol can make fools of the best of men."

Natsuki's ears tilted back in thought and she didn't miss the way Winter glanced at them again. "You sound like you speak from experience."

"I suppose I do, only the man I know has always been drunk every time I've seen him. Everyone seems to think highly of him, so I assume that he is a good man when sober."

"You should just ask?" Natsuki suddenly said, lowering the ice pack.

"Pardon?"

"My ears, you keep looking at them. So why don't you just ask? I won't mind?"

Winter hesitated for a moment, expression stoic as it had been throughout their conversations. Natsuki wondered what it would take to make her smile. Finally, Winter seemed to come to a decision. "To my knowledge, faunus' that have furred appendages usually possess the same hair and fur color, but you do not."

"I dye my hair," She answered with a shrug. "But that's not what you really wanted to ask so try again."

Winter's brow furrowed slightly at that before finally getting to the question she felt was too rude to ask. "What species of faunus are you?"

"There we go. For future reference, it might feel rude to ask, but it is usually best that you do instead of risk making assumptions. As for my species, I'm a gray wolf Alpha."

"Grey wolf?" She repeated skeptically.

Natsuki grinned, flashing her white canines. "No one ever believes me when I tell them. I really am a gray wolf, though, I just get my fur coloring from my grandmother on my mom's side; she's a fennec fox."

"At the chance of sounding rude, do you mind my asking what your other animal trait is?"

Electricity crackled across the surface of the faunus' skin and the lights flickered overhead. "Don't call them animal traits. A faunus is no more an animal than a human is. You'll offend any faunus you meet if you use terms like that. Leave that to the real racist bastards like Professor Tawny."

"You've been through my books." It wasn't a question. Natsuki didn't reply still crackling with electricity. "What should I call them then?"

The lights stopped flickering once she asked the question. "Faunus traits is acceptable. However, if you know what trait it is your referring to then you should just call it by name. As for those books, I could tell that you've only recently bought them and haven't gotten the chance to read them yet. And I suggest that you don't, men like Tawny tend to exaggerate or completely lie when they discuss faunus. If you have any questions it would better for you to go to the most credible source there is, an actual faunus."

"My apologize, I wasn't aware."

"I know you weren't." Natsuki sighed. "I'm sorry for my anger. Normally I would be much calmer about this, but after my run in with your neighbor earlier it just reminded me of all the racism I've seen in this city."

"That is why you wear the fedora I presume."

Natsuki glanced at the hat where it sat to her right. "Actually I wear the hat for another reason. As you've probably noticed my ears tend to be very . . ."

"Expressive," Winter supplied when she trailed off.

"I was gonna say twitchy, but I suppose expressive fits better."

An alarm went off on Winter's scroll, startling both of them. The white-haired Schnee reached over to turn it off and stood up from the table.

"I need to make dinner. Would you like anything?"

"I don't know if I should be amazed by the fact that you need an alarm to start dinner or the fact that it goes off at 9:30 at night." Natsuki stared at the clock for a moment and then groaned. "Xander's gonna kill me."

"I was under the impression that the two of you were close, so why would he murder you?"

"I told him I'd be back before curfew and as you can see, it's an hour and a half past. Not that it would be to much trouble to get back to the hotel without getting caught."

Winter glanced at the clock, pausing in her dinner preparations. "As the commander of the Special Operatives, I can't knowingly let you break curfew."

"Then what do you suggest I do? Sleep in the laundry room?"

"I would not be resistant to sharing my home tonight and you may use my scroll to inform your friends."

"You know, you're not so bad, Schnee. I'll have to take you up on that offer."

* * *

Winter paused beside the couch before she left the next morning. Her guest was still sleeping peacefully, stretched out contentedly across what she had always considered to be an uncomfortable couch. The light blue blanket she had given her before going to bed had fallen down to her hips in the middle of the night, revealing her impressive abdominals. Most of the people Winter knew with such defined abs were men, so it interested her to see a girl that was so fit. One might think it would take away from her femininity - especially with her short hair - but to Winter it only showcased the girl's strength. That being said, she did find it a bit inappropriate that Natsuki went around without a shirt.

Natsuki's wolf ears twitched in her sleep, a thin layer of blue electricity rippling across her skin as if she could sense that she was being watched. As Winter continued to stand there, the faunus rolled onto her side, knocking her blanket to the floor and revealing her black tipped tail. Natsuki had never revealed the other faunus trait that made her an Alpha, but Winter was able to guess when the faunus never took her trenchcoat off. She could see why.

The white bandages wrapped around the appendage had unfurled slightly in her sleep revealing the ugly scab that looked suspiciously like someone had tried to cut it off and hadn't gotten far. The injury didn't appear to be deep, but due to the slowness of Natsuki's healing ability it had yet to heal completely. While slow, Natsuki's Aura was powerful enough that Winter doubted that it would leave a lasting scar. In fact, she was sure that it would be near impossible to give the young woman any lasting scars to tell the tales of her heroism.

"The fact that you're up this early implies that you have work, so why are you watching me sleep?" Natsuki asked sleepily and yet strangely alert, ears twitching.

"I was considering if I should wake you or let you continue to sleep."

"Well, I'm awake now," Natsuki replied, tone amused. "Thank you for letting me stay."

"I was returning a favor."

"Returning a favor?"

"For your assistance earlier in the square."

"Oh, that. You don't have to repay me for that."

"I wanted to it. And to further repay my debt, there's breakfast in the fridge. Feel free to consume it before you leave. Now I really must be going."

* * *

"Do you know how worried we were?!" Xander shouted before Natsuki had even closed the door behind her.

"I wasn't worried," Nickolas corrected without looking up from his tablet.

"I can take care of myself, Xander," She replied with a sigh.

"I know you can, but you and I both know that the White Fang wouldn't hesitate to slip a blade through your ribs if they had the chance."

"I called to let you know I was somewhere safe, didn't I?"

"And then refused to tell us where you were?"

"Because I knew you'd end up coming to get me and if you really must know, I was with Winter."

"Winter?" Yasmin repeated. "As in Winter Schnee?"

"Unless you know of anyone else named Winter," Natsuki retorted.

"Why were you with her?"

"I was returning an earring of hers that I found; she let me stay the night since it was after curfew and no, Yasmin, nothing happened. I slept on the couch and she in her room."

"I'm not worried that you slept with her. I'm worried that you were around her at all. She's a Schnee."

"Don't judge a person by their family, Yasmin," Xander told the stoat to Natsuki's surprise. "From what I could sense from her, Winter holds no hatred for faunus. If anything she's a bit curious about them."

"Definitely curious. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to go take a shower and then we can plan for the next mission."

* * *

Nickolas set his tablet on the nightstand that had been pulled out from the wall before checking the hologram projectors. Nodding to Xander, he sat back on the hotel bed the two boys had to share. Xander closed the curtains, plunging the room into semi-darkness, before joining him. A map of the Atlas kingdom was projected above the nightstands surface as Natsuki switched the projector on.

"So as the three of you know, Adam has recently risen to fill the leadership role in the White Fang. According to my source, it's rumored that he killed the old leader, but that doesn't matter to us right now. What does matter is that we know Adam is orchestrating an attack here."

She reached forward and tapped a spot in the forest next to Atlas city, using her semblance to control the projection and zoom in.

"This is Brimstone, a rather large Dust mining town. The Brimstone mine lies about half a mile outside of the town and is owned by the SDC. The workforce consists - as you can probably guess - of faunus who can see in the dark. This mine, while not the largest, has deep veins of fire, lava, and - surprisingly - lightning Dust.

"According to my contact, Adam has managed to convince over half of the faunus miners to help set up explosives inside the mine two weeks from now. With as much Dust as the mine contains, the explosion will have over a mile radius and would not only destroy the mine but the town itself. During this explosion, Adam and . . . another faunus will be attacking the train carrying the dust from the mine to refineries in Vale."

"Is this other faunus Blake, perchance?" Yasmin asked darkly.

Natsuki hesitated before nodding, touching the scarf at her neck. "We have a week to gather supplies before we head off to Brimstone which will give us a week to survey the town and the mines in order to come up with a plan."

* * *

Over the years, Natsuki had found ways to distract herself and hide her pain from others, whether it be physical or mental. Xander had a sometimes unfair advantage over her with his semblance, always able to sense what she felt no matter how well she hid it. Natsuki, while sometimes irritated by this, was also extremely grateful for his empathy. It allowed him to be her voice of reason and that was probably the only reason she was alive and able to act like a rational faunus. However, there was one thing Xander knew never to ask about and that was the matter of her heart.

Like all alpha faunus, Natsuki had the ability to imprint on up to three people. That was one thing Professor Tawny had gotten right, but it was so much more than what he had described it as. The three imprints were to the alpha, three tries to find the person they loved with all their heart and wanted to spend the rest of their life with. There were no redos for an alpha choosing a mate thus they were not only encouraged to find their other half in another alpha but to never imprint before their first heat cycle. Natsuki would have known this had she'd been enrolled in an alpha academy like she was supposed to be - and she probably wouldn't have joined the White Fang either.

Natsuki had been eight when she first fell in love. It had been a little over a year since she had first joined a nonviolent White Fang when she met the girl destined to become her first love. Despite it being winter, the young cat faunus was dressed in only a thin shirt and a pair of jeans with holes in the knees. She could barely hold up her cardboard sign due to her shivering. Natsuki had given her the warm cream scarf she had brought from home. Natsuki's brother, Leo, had seen the act of kindness and had donated his beanie. A young bull and stoat faunus had also donated a jacket and pair of gloves. It was the very beginning of the friendship between Natsuki, Yasmin, Blake, Leo, and Adam.

Two years later, when Blake had given Natsuki the blue scarf she still wore to this day, she realized that her feelings for the cat faunus were stronger than simple friendship. The imprint happened shortly after that realization. Now the two were on opposing sides of what may soon turn into a war. If the two were to ever come face to face, Natsuki doubted that she'd have the ability to take up arms against her.

With the failure of the first imprint, one would have expected her to be more careful in the future. However, it took the complicated situation of her second imprint for her to learn to guard her heart, but that's a story for a later time.

"What are we going to do about Blake and Adam?" Where Xander knew not to ask, Yasmin chose to anyways.

Natsuki paused in the loading of a clip, running a thumb over the golden prongs of a bullet thoughtfully. "Nothing."

The two girls were alone in the hotel room, doing maintenance on their weapons while the boys were picking up some camping supplies.

"Nothing?" Yasmin repeated in surprise.

"I am the only one with enough Aura to stand any chance against Adam, but my semblance is worthless against his. That makes my chance of success in a fight with him very low and yours non-existent. As for Blake . . ."

"You can't keep protecting her forever, Natsuki."

"I know, but . . . I want to wait for just a bit longer, just long enough for Blake to make a choice as to what she really wants."

"She's already made her choice."

"Has she? You and I both know Blake and we know that she has never liked the idea violence for equality. She like all of us never felt there was any other option, that the violent approach was the only chance we had left for equality." Natsuki slid the bullet into the clip before snapping the two halves of the clip together. "So we will wait."

Yasmin grudgingly accepted the response and went back to tending to her own weapon. Natsuki slid the filled clip into the last slot on her ammo belt, the lightning and wind dust glowing softly within their clear shells. Turning her attention to her dust boots, she removed the dust inserts from the heels. They were still nearly full since she hadn't used them after saving Winter when she refilled them. Xander and Nickolas rushed into the hotel room just as she finished topping them off.

"We need to leave tonight," Xander managed to inform them as he panted for breath.

"Why? We still have three days to prepare."

"It appears that the Atlas military has received the same information we have. There's a train leaving for Brimstone tonight with a team of hunters. Unless you guys want to walk through a Grimm infested forest, we need to be on that train."

Natsuki put the lid back on the bottle of yellow dust. "When does it leave?"

"Eight thirty."

"Four hours, we can make that work." She snapped the inserts back into her boots and pulled them on. "Yasmin and I will go shopping to pick up the last of the supplies we need while the two of you run a check on your equipment and load up on ammo."

Yasmin sighed and rotated the blade of her kusarigama into carrying form and attaching it to the thin lightweight magnet stitched into the back of her shirt. The golden chain draped down past her hips and her tail twitched slightly as it brushed against the cool metal links.

"Sounds good to me."

* * *

The metal tread in Natsuki's boots rang loudly against the sidewalk as she ran. The city was quieter at night, but not by much as people went about their late night business, whether that be getting drunk in a bar or going to see a late night movie with a date. The faunus curfew was extended on weekends, so the four teens weren't in danger of getting in trouble for that.

"Damn it, we've already missed it! What the hell were you two doing?"

"Metro. Food. Supplies," She answered Xander, knowing he'd be able to figure out her meaning. "Come on, we still have a chance of catching it."

"Yeah, well you're going the wrong way!"

"Just trust me."

She hurtled through the sliding door of a mall, dodging shoppers and ignoring the shout of a security guard. Her friends close on her heels, she made a beeline for the elevators. She caught the door before it could slide shut, allowing the others to tumble in after her. In her haste, Natsuki barely refrained from pressing the button to the floor they needed in rapid succession.

The other people in the elevator stared in wide-eyed shock - and a little bit of fear - at the human and two of the faunus. Yasmin went unnoticed thanks to her semblance. The stoat faunus was carrying not only her weapons and backpack but the other faunus' weapons as well. The other three each had a backpack, but due to the size of their weapons and Natsuki having returned her borrowed trenchcoat to the Irving family home they had to rely on Yasmin's semblance to conceal them.

"You know that train's not going to be making any stops until it gets to Brimstone, right?" Nickolas asked, slightly out of breath.

"I wasn't expecting it to."

"Then why the hell did we come this way?" Xander demanded.

Natsuki didn't answer as the elevator came to their stop. Nickolas uttered a curse as she took off running again. They were in a food court of mainly fancy expensive restaurants. She glanced at the restaurants until she found the one she was looking for. They had begun to close up for the night unlike many of their neighbors who were open late into the night. The emptiness made it easy for her to navigate her way through the restaurant without having to dodge waiters or patrons. The wolf faunus' ears twitched beneath her fedora as she pushed open the balcony doors. Gripping the iron railing, she stared at the train track two stories below them, measuring the distance between herself and the approaching light of the train.

"Please tell me we aren't jumping," Xander begged.

"I'd be lying if I did," She replied, backing up from the railing. "On my mark."

Yasmin shifted the strap of Nickolas' shotgun trident into a more comfortable position over her shoulder. "We've done worse."

"Get ready," Natsuki warned, readying herself for a running start.

"Hey, you four, stop!" Mall security shouted from behind them.

"Now!"

At Natsuki's shout, they launched themselves over the balcony railing. Air caught against the fabric of her scarf and black jacket as Natsuki fell, sending them rippling noisily behind her. She landed on the roof of a train car with a solid thump, Aura absorbing the shock of the impact. She rolled once before a burst of electricity from her palms allowed her to cling to the smooth metal like a magnet. Raising a hand to make sure her fedora wasn't about to be torn off from the wind, she glanced to make sure the others had made it safely. Yasmin had landed on a knee a car ahead, tail tucked close to her body - just as Natsuki's was - to prevent the wind from catching it and yanking her off balance. Xander's landing had not been nearly graceful as the two girls' had been and he lay spread-eagled on the train car behind. Nickolas' landing was even worse than Xander's and his scream was lost in the wind as he tumbled past her.

"Nick!"

Natsuki lunged forward to grasp Nickolas as he rolled past, barely holding herself in place with her semblance. The boy tried to regain his footing on the smooth steel and if it weren't for Yasmin jumping back to help them, he would've fallen over the side. Once the otter faunus was pulled to safety, Yasmin went to help Xander cross the gap between train cars while Natsuki led Nickolas over to the hatch in the top of the train. Bypassing the security panel with a burst of her semblance, Natsuki pulled the hatch open so a shaky Nickolas could drop into what appeared to be a storage car. She didn't follow him until the other two had entered the car as well, closing and latching the hatch behind her.

"Has anyone ever told you that you take too many risks?" Xander asked as he felt around for a suitable place to sit, unable to see in the dark.

"Several times actually. Nickolas, some light please."

As Nickolas pulled a collapsible lantern from his pack, the wolf faunus took a seat on a crate marked ' _Volatile Substance. This side up. Do not drop or expose to fire.'_

"What now?"

"Set a watch and get some sleep," She answered the stoat faunus as Nickolas turned on the lantern to its dimmest setting.

"I'll take first watch," Xander volunteered and Nick was quick to take the second.

Natsuki stretched out across the top of the crate, using her pack as a pillow and pulling her fedora down over her face to block out the lantern light.

* * *

Cream wolf ears involuntary flicked at the sudden chill in the air before purposefully swiveling to focus on the faint shuffle of boots on metal. Natsuki slowly pulled her hat down until she could peer over the brim up at the military commander standing over her.

"We should really stop meeting like this," She said lightheartedly, sitting up and putting her fedora on.

"And by that, I assume you mean when you are disregarding the law and are in the process of illegal activity," Winter Schnee replied, hand resting loosely on the hilt of her weapon.

"Can you really consider us sneaking aboard this train illegal?"

"Yes."

Natsuki whistled sharply, waking up her three companions. Xander blinked sleepily as he took everything in before slapping at Nickolas' shoulder. "You were supposed to be keeping watch."

"Ow, hey. Stop it."

Yasmin grabbed the chain connecting her weapons as she leveled a suspicious glare at Winter and moved to stand beside Natsuki. "Is everything alright?"

"That depends on if Winter and her men here are going to arrest us?"

Winter glanced back at her seven subordinates who were eyeing the four teens suspiciously. Two had even partially drawn their military standard weapons in response to Natsuki's whistle. "Not this time. In fact, I have received a direct order from General Ironwood to work with you and your organization should you make an appearance."

"Is that so, and - if you don't mind my asking - what goal does your general believe that us working together can achieve?"

"He believes we could prevent there being any civilian casualties at the hands of the White Fang."

The female leader of the White Fang glanced to her male counterpart in silent question. Xander dipped his head in agreement and Natsuki turned back to Winter. She stood to her full height and held out her hand.

"Sounds like a good enough reason to me. I look forward to working with you, Commander Schnee."

"And I, you," Winter replied, accepting the handshake. "Natsuki Sora."

 **Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY, but I do own Natsuki, Yasmin, and Nickolas. Xander was created by my boyfriend.**

 **I struggled a bit with writing Winter, but I am fairly happy with my characterization of her. I watched the intro for the new season of RWBY and am now super excited to watch the first episode. Unfortunately, I lack a subscription to the RoosterTeeth website so I have to wait for it to be released on youtube. Check out my pictures of my OC on my DeviantArt under the name 3wolfheart4.**

 **Playlist: N/A**


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